After almost two decades of serving up French Mediterranean fare on West Third Street near West Hollywood, the team behind The Little Door restaurant decided to open a second location with a copy-cat menu last September across the street from Brentwood Country Mart.
The restaurant’s courtyard offers plenty of charm, and inside the kitchen is Executive Chef T. Nicolas Peter, who has been with original location since it opened 18 years ago.
With a focus on fresh produce, herbs, and spices, Peter oversees the menus at The Little Door, as well as Little Next Door French brasserie and cafe, both near West Hollywood, and now at The Little Door Santa Monica.
Each setting has provided him with a new set of opportunities and challenges in presenting dishes that are both recognizable and trendsetting.
“My menu is driven by the Farmers Market,” Peter said. “I’ve been doing that for 18 years. I go religiously to the Farmers Market on Wednesday and Saturday – 75 percent of my produce comes from the local farmers in California, so my menu basically rides on that. When it’s not available because it’s out of season I have to change my menu.”
He said he changes his menu about every six weeks, but said it’s not a total overhaul.
“I’ll keep mostly the same proteins, but I’ll change the sauce, the vegetables, and the accompaniments for the dish,” he said. “For the main course I have a filet, a rack of lamb, a chicken breast, and two fish – usually a white fish and depending on time of year I will have something like a salmon, sea bass, or monk fish. As the season changes, it could be venison for winter, quail for late winter, or even a pork tenderloin.”
The current menu stars a Duo of Duck Breast and Leg Confit dish with candied kumquats and star anise sauce over a bed of wild rice pilaf and baby broccolis. A Grilled Prime Rib Eye Steak is another popular dish with sel de guerande, herbs, and cracked black pepper served with potato and leek gratin, baby broccolis, and baby carrots.
Dedicating his time these days to the Santa Monica location, Peter creates the ultimate sensory experience through simple yet elegant cuisine that showcases his natural talent of creating harmonious dishes through the balance of the ingredients’ color, texture, flavor, and consistency.
At the new location, he continues to capture the spirit of the South of France.
“I describe my cooking as root cooking – what you used to have at your grandma’s house and trying to use that and using the best ingredients possible by using the Farmers Market and using really fresh products from California,” Peter said.
As the son of a father who was a professional chemist for a French fragrance company as well as an avid home cook, Peter grew up in a household that wholly embraced the art and science of cooking.
He has lived in internationally recognized culinary centers such as Paris, Belgium, and the south of France, from which he absorbed cooking methods and flavor-building, which ultimately developed into his inimitable cooking style.
Upon moving to the United States in his 20s, Peter quickly moved up the culinary ranks in the fine-dining establishments of regional Omni and Radisson hotels.
There, he combined his European background with new experiences and began to develop a distinct culinary style that relied on the senses, as well as a highly intellectual understanding of the chemistry of cooking. Peter’s talent in the kitchen grew to an executive role as he took charge of everything from creating menus for formal dinners to running large scale catering events at the hotel.
Peter’s career at the Radisson ultimately took him to California, where he took on the role of executive chef at San Diego’s Radisson Harbor View hotel. Then, after trying his hand as a personal chef for a year, Peter became as executive chef at Hollywood’s celebrated Café des Artistes, for which he fine-tuned the restaurant’s bistro menu to critical acclaim. He then decided to leave to open The Little Door in West Hollywood in 1996, at which he has been ever since.
The Little Door Santa Monica is located at 246 26th Street, Santa Monica.
For reservations or more information, call 310.310.8064 or visit http://thelittledoorsm.com.
